Escape the Night: Buried Alive
by Dede42
Summary: The group performs a seance to find the location of the next artifact. But what price will they pay to retrieve it?
1. Prologue: BEING BURIED…LITERALLY

Escape the Night: Buried Alive

A/N: Hey, guys, I'm posting this today instead of tomorrow since I have work at the movie theater tomorrow. Anyhow, time for our heroes to locate the next artifact, but who will pay the price to find it?

Read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

* * *

 **PROLOGUE: BEING BURIED…LITERALLY**

In a hotel room, a man was having a serious make-out session with a beautiful blonde woman, and he had her pinned to the wall until he was done. The man took a step back, allowing the woman to catch her breath, but when she went to kiss him, he turned and walked toward a table with a leather box on it.

The woman, who was a hooker, went to sit on the bed, grabbing both a cigarette and a lighter, which she used to light the cigarette, and she began smoking.

The man picked up a packet of money and tossed it onto the bed next to the hooker. While she picked it up and was counting it, he removed a brown bottle from the box, poured some of the clear liquid on a white cloth, and put the bottle back into the box.

Hiding the cloth behind his back, he went to the hooker and she was a bit surprised when he took the cigarette from her and smoked it himself. He sat down next to her, scooted closer in a way that made her think that he wanted to make out with her again – and that was when he quickly covered her nose and mouth with the cloth.

The hooker struggled against him, trying not to breath in the chloroform, but eventually she ended up taking a breath, and she sank into darkness.

* * *

After dressing himself, the man carried the unconscious woman over one shoulder along a path until he reached an area where another man was busy digging a hole in the ground and there was a wooden coffin waiting nearby. In the distance was the house, and that meant that they were now somewhere on the estate.

The man put the woman on the ground, unaware that she'd regained consciousness a few minutes ago, and he went to check on the hole. "Hey, hurry up."

Seeing this as her chance, the woman quickly got up and ran away, screaming. Cursing, the man chased after the woman and he quickly caught her since she was still a bit woozy from the chloroform. The woman screamed and struggled as he dragged her back to the hole, and the second man helped by grabbing her legs.

"Please! No!" the woman screamed as they put her in the coffin, and she tried to keep them from putting the lid on, but they managed to shove it down.

The mysterious figure walked up as the two men finished chaining the coffin shut, muffling her screams. _`"Is she inside?"`_ it asked.

The first man straightened up, but he didn't look at the figure that'd employed him, not wanting to reveal that he was scared of the figure. "Yeah."

 _`"Bury her,"`_ the mysterious figure ordered and as the two men placed the coffin in the hole to bury it, the figure went over to a black box. Kneeling down, the figure placed the artifact inside the box, closing it, and then the figure began pouring a circle of white sand around the box. Once the coffin was buried, the figure poured white sand on top of the box until it was swallowed up by the ground.

' _Excellent,'_ the mysterious figure thought, paying the two men, who were quick to leave, and the figure headed back toward the house. _'Two down and two to go.'_ It knew that a heavy price would have to be paid in order to retrieve that particular artifact, and it didn't care since it meant that it was one step closer to what it wanted from the evil that lived inside the house.

The mysterious figure would make as many sacrifices as it needed in order to win the favor of the evil. Once it had done that, then it would do what was needed to control the evil itself, and take its' power as its' own.

* * *

A/N: What a horrible way to go! Being buried alive! See you all on Thursday! R&R everyone!


	2. Chapter 1: THE NEXT CLUE

Escape the Night: Buried Alive

A/N: Hey, guys, so I did go to the doctor's yesterday fro the followup on my toe problem, and he said that it's looking better. He did numb it so that he could work on it, and I just need to keep taking the medication and stay off of it as much as possible so that it can finish healing. So, enough about real life and let's see what Joey, Dawn, and their friends are going to have to do to find the next artifact.

Read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

* * *

 **CHAPTER ONE: THE NEXT CLUE**

It'd only been a short time since Eva, Lele, and Justine came back with the first artifact after going up against the ungodly machine, and overloading it had cost the life of Andrea. Although Tim and some of the others had all been for blaming Andrea's death on Justine, Dawn had had managed to talk them all down by pointing out that the evil wanted them to fight instead of work as a team to get the rest of the artifacts, seal away the evil, and get it all done before sunrise.

Unfortunately after putting the artifact on the fireplace mantle, Oli found a folded piece of paper tucked away inside it, and when he read the contents of the paper, it stated that someone among them was working with the evil.

The moment Oli read those words, accusations began flying around the room, and the YouTubers were accusing each other once again. The only ones not taking part in the blame game were Joey and Dawn, and the two of them were really wishing that they were somewhere else right now. In fact, they both were wishing that they had _never_ came to that cursed house in the first place.

"Who's the rat?"

"It's her, isn't it!"

"I think-"

"It's not me!"

"You're-"

"One of you guys-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!"

"One of us is the killer!"

"How did you even _see_ it from that far?" Lele demanded of Oli, suspicious that he'd been able to see it at all.

"I have good vision!"

"Bull-crap!"

Oli just shook his head. "We can't blame it all on one person," he said in a surprisingly calm voice compared to a few seconds ago. "It could genuinely be any of us."

' _Well,'_ Joey thought, _'_ _at least_ someone's _trying to be the voice of reason in this mess.'_

Justine pointed at Arthur and Sarah, who had been standing in the back doing nothing this entire time. "What about these two back here?"

"We could blame you too!" GloZell shouted, jabbing a gloved finger at Oli.

"Who's to say it's not you?" Oli retorted.

"Zappa-dap-doop-dap-doop-dap- _no_!" GloZell responded, her eyes flashing with anger.

Joey glanced at Dawn, who had her face in her hands, and he knew that if the arguing didn't stop soon, she would lose it again. _'This blame game is going to be the death of us,'_ he thought, having had enough of the arguing, too. "Okay, listen!" Joey shouted, stopping the "whodunit" speculation in its tracks. "Listen, guys, Eva brought back a note that was with the artifact." And he held up the envelope that'd been with the artifact.

The group gathered around Joey, Eva and Justine kneeling on the floor, as he opened the envelope and pulled out a photo of a blonde woman with piercing green eyes, and she was wearing dangling emerald earrings, a red scarf, and a red outfit. "What the heck?" he muttered, staring in confusion at the photo. "It's a super creepy picture."

"Who is that woman?" Dawn wondered, having never seen anyone like her before. "Do you know her, Joey?"

"Who is that?" GloZell wondered.

Joey shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know her."

Eva took the photo and examined it. "She's beautiful and those eyes are piercing."

Joey checked the envelop again and found a note he'd overlooked before. "Hold on," he said, taking the note out so that everyone could see it, "I have a note that came with it." He offered it to Dawn. "Care to read it?"

Dawn nodded, took the note and read it aloud. "'The location of the next artifact can only be found by speaking to the woman in the photograph. The inconvenience is that she is no longer with the living'." _'Oh no, please don't let us have to communicate with the dead!'_

"Omigod," Sierra muttered, straightening her tiara.

Dawn took a deep breath and she resumed reading. "'To get answers from across the grave, you must perform a séance…but, to ensure the circle does not open a doorway to unwanted spirits, there must be acquired a unique part of her beauty, an article of clothing, and her birthstone. If you seek the three, you must study the picture, giving it all your attention, but must tear it to pieces right after you proceed. Once the objects have been found, return them to the golden dish, and the séance ritual will be revealed'." She groaned. "Great, now we've got to do a freaking séance. Anyone else see that coming?"

Getting to her feet, Justine noticed a gold bowl sitting next to a box and she picked it up, showing it to the group. "I found the bowl."

"So we need to find the three items," Matt remarked, pointing at the photo in Eva's hands, "and return them to the dish for our next clue."

"What do you see?" GloZell asked as they all looked closely at the photo, trying to memorize the important parts.

"A scarf," Sierra replied.

Eva grasped the picture between her fingernails. "Green," she said calmly, as if she was playing I Spy with dead people.

"Emerald!" Joey shouted, pointing at the woman's earrings. "Emerald, right?"

Eva nodded. "Yeah. Emerald green."

Oli squinted at the photograph. The woman had emerald earrings on, as well as a vibrant red scarf around her neck. Also, she had some _really_ nice blonde hair, and her eyes were the same green color as her earrings.

"Any women's items, we should just be on the lookout for," Eva stated to the rest of the group.

Joey nodded. "Okay, rip it up, we're good."

Eva began ripping up the photograph, which she thought was a waste, but that was what was written on the note, and they had to follow the instructions to the letter if they wanted to get the rest of the artifacts and get out of there before sunrise.

"Girl, hurry up and rip it up!" shouts GloZell, tapping her foot impatiently. "I'm ready to go! Hurry up!"

"Do we need to split up and look for the items?" Matt wondered, and then a drawer on the box that the bowl had been next to, popped open, starting them. "Whoa!"

"The drawer is open!" GloZell exclaimed.

The group hurried over to the drawer, and Justine was the first to reach inside, and she pulled out three keys. "Keys!"

"There's three keys," Matt pointed out. "Could these be to the rest of the house?"

"Okay, so we should split up!" Lele suggested. "Let's split up into three groups!"

Justine nodded. "Okay."

"May I suggest that we go check upstairs?" Arthur chimed in.

GloZell cringed. "I don't wanna go upstairs!" she complained, traces of fear lining her otherwise defiant voice.

"Come on, everyone, this way!" Arthur immediately headed for the staircase, and the group had no choice but to follow him.

"Upstairs," Oli grumbled under his breath, "in this creepy _flipping_ house!"

Joey whirled around to face him. "Excuse me!"

"Sorry," Oli muttered.

* * *

A/N: Looks like they're on a treasure hunt of sorts. See you all on Tuesday. Oh, FYI, tomorrow is my birthday, so if you want to post birthday wishes in your reviews, please do, and it would mean a lot to both me and my muses. R&R everyone!


	3. Chapter 2: THREE ITEMS

Escape the Night: Buried Alive

A/N: Hey, everyone, I hope you all had a good weekend and I'm glad to say that my toe is on the mend. It wasn't broken, but it was having troubles, and the doctor was able to fix the problem. Anyway, time for another installment of Escape the Night.

Read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

* * *

 **CHAPTER TWO: THREE ITEMS**

The group made their way up the circular stairs to the second floor, and several of them, including GloZell, were already exhausted from all the running around they'd done earlier, and climbing the stairs wasn't helping matters.

"Joey, how many floors is this house?" Matt asked.

Joey was too winded to answer, but he did fight back a smile when he heard GloZell mutter something about needing to "redecorate" when they reached the top of the stairs and she caught sight of the white-and-orange wallpaper.

Arthur stopped and gestured to three doors. Realizing that they were going to have to split up to find the items, Joey took a key from Eva and went to the nearest door with Dawn, Oli, and Justine. Tim took the second key and went to the second door with GloZell, Lele, and Bart. Eva had the third key and she turned to the third door with Matt, Sierra, and Benny.

It was time to get to work.

* * *

Unlocking the door, Tim entered a room that had a large bay window, and the furniture was covered with all kinds of jewelry boxes and cases. "Looks like we'll be looking for the earrings."

He entered the room with his group and they moved around, searching for the earrings, which wasn't easy since there was jewelry everywhere.

GloZell opened a box and found a pair of earrings in them that had light green stones on them. "Here they are!" she shouted, picking up to show them to the others as they gathered around. "Here they are!"

"Is that it?" Tim asked, hoping that they would have an easy item to find.

"That's emerald," said GloZell.

Bart examined the stones and shook his head. "No, those aren't emeralds, they're too light in color.

Lele took a look at the earrings and shook her head. "Bart's right," she agreed. "They were long and made out of emeralds."

Disappointed, GloZell put the earrings back and they all resumed the search for the emerald earrings. This wasn't going to be easy at all.

* * *

"Wait, careful!" Sierra cautioned as Eva unlocked the door with the key. She still wanted to believe that this was all one big prank being pulled by Joey, Dawn, and Shane, but she was starting to have her doubts now that Andrea was dead.

Eva entered the room first, followed by Matt, Sierra, and Benny, and they found themselves in a room that had _wigs_ everywhere. "Whoa."

"Who needs all these wigs?" Benny wondered, staring in confusion. "Not even my grandmother needs this many wigs."

"Ok, _that's_ a lot of wigs," said Sierra.

"I think we're looking for a lock of hair," Matt said. "That's what the clue said."

They began searching among the wigs, taking them off the shelves, out of cabinets, trying to find the right one. Sierra realized that she couldn't recall what color the hair was, and she sighed. This was going to take a while.

"My question for you is…" Matt said and they looked at him, "now that we're away from everybody else, who do you guys think is working with the evil spirit?"

Benny shrugged, not having given it much thought. "Could be anyone in the group," he admitted. "But I'm thinking the butler or the maid, since they're both sketchy."

"Guys, there's something I need to tell you," Eva said, seeing this as her one chance to share what she and Shane had seen before he'd gotten poisoned and died. "It's about what happen when Shane and I snuck off to look around the house."

"So, you two didn't go off to have some _alone time_?" Sierra asked teasingly.

Eva shot her a look, but she did smile a little. "Of course not," she protested, but without heat. "No, we had come up to this floor, and we saw a dead body being dragged out of sight. Moments later, Sarah the maid appeared and she had some blood on her face. Shane had me leave and go back downstairs, but I did overhear him telling Sarah that he knew what she was doing."

"And then shortly after you guys came back, Shane was poisoned," said Benny as several puzzle pieces fell into place, and they were forming a disturbing picture. "Matt, I know you think that it's probably Joey or Dawn behind this, but I don't think they are."

"Then maybe Justine is with the evil," Matt suggested.

Benny shook his head. "No, she's a victim in this just like the rest of us," he stated. "Whoever is working with the evil in this place, they're out to get _all_ of us, and remember, you and Justine only had thirty minutes to overload that machine, or else you all could've been killed by some monster," he added to Eva, who nodded and shivered. "So, _none_ of us are safe until we can get all of the artifacts and get out of this house before sunrise. I don't know about you guys, but I rather not spend the rest of my life in the 1920s."

"You're right, Benny," Eva agreed. "Finding out who's with the evil isn't the priority right now, finding the artifacts is. Let's just be careful, ok?"

Agreeing with her, they went back to looking for the right wig.

* * *

Back in the room with the jewelry, Lele was commenting about how great the jewelry was while slipping some into her bodice when she didn't think anyone was looking. GloZell was moaning how she didn't want to die there while slipping a diamond bracelet into her own pocket.

Bart ignored them both, especially the bit with them stealing the jewelry. "Why women need so much jewelry I'll never understand," he grumbled. "Not even my own mother had that much jewelry." _'Oh, she used to, but most of it was sold by dad just so that he could buy himself drugs and stuff.'_

"Focus, guys," Tim said, pulling drawers out of cabinets, searching for the earrings. "We've got to find those earrings."

* * *

In the third and final room, Joey, Dawn, Justine, and Oli were searching for the scarf while Arthur was standing next to the open door, just watching and being _very_ unhelpful. Him standing there was also unnerving Justine, who kept glancing back at him as they pulled the room apart, searching for the scarf.

"Where could the scarf be?" Oli wondered, sighing and staring at the ceiling of the bedroom.

"I have no idea." Joey rifled through a few blankets, and then turned his attention to the others. "It didn't give us any more clues, right?"

"No, just the hair, the earrings, and the scarf," Dawn recalled from the photo and took Justine aside. "You ok, sweetie?" she asked, concerned for the blonde's wellbeing.

Justine shook her head and held the gold bowl close. "No," she confessed. "I couldn't save Andrea and everyone thinks that I killed her on purpose."

"Not everyone does," Dawn reassured her. "Joey and I don't believe that you got Andrea killed on purpose. You and Eva had to solve some complex puzzles, and had the timer run out before the puzzles were solved, I doubt any of us would be standing here right now."

"You really believe that, Dawn?" Justine asked, looking at the brunette.

Dawn nodded. "Of course I do," she said confidently. "You don't have to have Autism to have troubles figuring out how to make a machine overload. I probably would've struggled, too, if it had been me. Heck, I still use a flip phone instead of one of those fancy smart phones that so many people are hooked onto these days."

Justine giggled. "That's true," she agreed, and she was feeling better when she found herself smiling.

Joey smiled to himself when he saw Justine smiling, and then he duck under the bed to look for the scarf. He knew that if anyone could cheer her up, it would be Dawn.

"There's nothing here!" Oli complained, tossing aside a bag he'd been searching, having dumped out the contents with no red anything in sight.

"Wait!" Joey emerged from under the bed and put a tissue box on top of it, and there was something red peeking out of it. "I found something." He stood up and pulled a brilliant red silk scarf out of the box as they gathered around. "I found it!"

Justine, Dawn, and Oli all sighed with relief since it was the very scarf they'd been looking for that whole time. "Where was it?"

"It was in the tissue box," Joey replied and they all headed for the door, passing Arthur. "Let's go. We gotta find the others." And he wrapped the scarf around his neck while Justine called out to the two remaining groups.

"Guys, we found something! We found the scarf! Meet us downstairs!"

* * *

Hearing the shouts, Lele was more determine then ever to find the earrings. She went to the box that GloZell had open earlier and saw that there were drawers on the front of it. She knelt down and began removing the drawers, which were filled with jewelry, and she felt around the inside of the box, feeling something hard that wasn't a part of the box itself.

She grabbed it and pulled her hand out to find herself holding a familiar pair of emerald earrings. "I found them!"

Tim and Bart hurried over and they both grinned when they saw that she _did_ have the correct earrings this time.

"Omigosh!" GloZell exclaimed, beaming at her. "Oh, you're the best! We're not gonna die!"

Thrilled that they found the earrings, they quickly exited the room to go back downstairs to join the others, already feeling better about their chances of survival.

* * *

In the living room, Joey was sitting on the couch with Justine, who was holding the gold bowl with the scarf in it, Dawn, and Oli when the group entered and Lele held up the earrings. "We've got the earrings!"

"Great, put them in the bowl," Joey said, thrilled that they now had two of the three items they needed for the upcoming séance.

* * *

Back upstairs, Eva's group was still searching for the right wig, and they were getting frustrated since they just couldn't seem to find a blonde wig _anywhere_ in the room. Just when they were about ready to give up, Matt noticed that there was a small crease in one of the walls, and it was practically invisible to the causal passerby.

Matt nudged it and it opened, revealing a hidden bathroom. "There's a bathroom inside," he said, his voice incredulous, and he was staring at the tiled walls and gilded white toilets. He investigated, and his search for the wig eventually lead him to the shower. Trying not to think about the shower scene from _Psycho,_ he threw back the curtain – and there it was. The wig. Blonde, curly, and _amazingly_ gorgeous.

He grabbed it and brought it back to Eva, Benny, and Sierra, and they were practically jumping for joy at the sight of it. They've recovered the "symbol of her beauty."

Having found a pair of scissors, Eva used them to cut off a lock of hair from the wig, figuring that they didn't need the whole thing, and then they ran out of the room to rejoin the rest downstairs. They had all three items, and it was time to communicate with the dead.

It was time for a séance.

* * *

A/N: The items have been found. But will the séance even work? R&R everyone!


	4. Chapter 3: THE SEANCE

Escape the Night: Buried Alive

A/N: Hey, guys, having a lousy morning so far. Hopefully it'll improve, but I'm not too hopeful.

Read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

* * *

 **CHAPTER THREE: THE SEANCE**

When the third team returned to the living room where the rest of their group was waiting, Eva held up the lock of blonde hair and proudly placed it in the bowl with the scarf and the earrings. Mere seconds after she did that, another drawer popped open on the same box, making a few of them jump even though they figured that it would happen after they found the three items needed.

"What's in it?" Oli wondered as they went over to the drawer.

Joey went to the drawer and, bracing himself, reached inside and took out a small brown scroll that was held together by milk-white binding.

"Joey, what _is_ that?" Matt asked, positive that he wasn't going to like the answer.

"It's a scroll," Joey said showing it to the group, hesitation lining the edges of his voice. He took a deep breath, removed the binding, opened the scroll, and moaned when he saw that he was holding the instructions of how to do the séance. "Oh, _God,_ no!"

It was a diagram. There was an outer circle sketched in black ink, along with a note stating that the circle must be seven paces across in diameter. Inside the circle was a triangle, and the directions clearly indicated where the "remnants of the deceased" were to be placed within the triangle. Finally, at the center of the triangle, a tiny triangle served to mark the place where the "mouthpiece of the group" had to sit.

"Anyone up for a séance?" Dawn asked dryly, not looking forward to it in the slightest. Like with spirit boards, she avoided that kind of stuff, partly because of how she was raised, and partly because she knew that it could end badly based on the stories she'd heard over the years. _'Of course, we_ just _used a spirt board a short while ago, so why not up the stakes and do a séance?'_

"Guys." Lele pointed to the note on the side of the scroll. "Read this."

Sierra shook her head. "This is so creepy."

As Joey and Dawn watched in nervous anticipation, Eva began reading the note.

"'You are now ready to speak to the dead. You may construct the seance circle, enclosed with white sand'."

Before Eva could finish, Arthur dashed into the room, accompanied by a burly man with a thick black beard and a permanent scowl. "Ladies and gentlemen, Marvin's our groundskeeper."

Marvin nodded at the group. Joey and Dawn, of course, knew him already; he'd been tending the gardens that whole time. And yet, in all that time, he hadn't said a word, not to Joey, not to Dawn, not to _anyone._

"Here is some sand," Arthur added, placing a bucket on the floor inches from Sierra's high heels.

Nodding, Eva continued reading. "'Each participant sits in front of a candle. One among the group needs to act as the voice of the deceased and sit in the center of the circle'."

Joey gulped. "Okay." He glanced around the group, hoping against hope that this was not another death sentence. "Who wants to…uh…"

"I will."

Sarah. Of course. The maid. The one who'd unnerved Joey and Dawn from the beginning. She was standing there, arms folded, a twitch of a smile on her face, looking like she wants to use her butter knife to surgically remove Joey _and_ Dawn's spines.

"Great. Sure. Thanks, Sarah."

The group went to work on gathering up candles and lighting them to set on the floor in a circle, and then it was time to form a circle out of the white sand. Scooping some into a smaller container, Joey poured it around where Sarah was kneeling with the gold bowl in front of her, and he had just finished when Eva double-checked the directions and GloZell was muttering about how they "were playing with some real scary stuff right now" as she sat down behind one of the candles.

"Guys," Eva said, looking up from the directions. "It also says that the circle has to be seven paces across in diameter."

"Oh, God," Justine groaned. "I'm not good at reading directions! This is crazy!"

"We've _already_ messed up," Sierra sighed, shaking her head.

"We can fix this," Dawn said calmly. "Just count out the paces and we can push the sand around to widen the circle and add more if needed."

Figuring that she was right, Eva counted the paces and both Dawn and Joey pushed the sand further from Sarah, adding more to fill in the gaps.

Oli took the sand to make the triangle and it didn't seem right to Eva, who was looking between it and the diagram.

"No one is dumb enough to make the triangle like this," Eva complained, "unless they were trying to sabotage us!"

"Listen!" Matt called out, waving his arms around like a traffic cop at rush hour. "Everyone stop for one second!" They stopped and looked at him. He pointed to the third line in the triangle, which was currently directly in front of where Sarah was kneeling. "The way you guys explained the diagram, _this_ line needs to be _behind_ her."

"Yes," Eva agreed and felt like kicking herself for not seeing that earlier.

"So let's just move the sand back a little bit," Matt continued, crouching down and pushed the sand backwards, Dawn and Joey crouched down to help.

Sierra watched them and shook her head. "Does someone have a _broom_ up in here?"

Eva sighed and stared at the now-messy floor. "We're all gonna die."

' _Obviously, nobody knows how to do geometry,'_ GloZell thought, squinting at the lopsided triangle they've created. _'_ _Everybody done failed that math test_ _.'_

* * *

It took a few minutes, but eventually they managed to fix the triangle and straighten out the circle. As the group resumed their places behind the candles, Sarah once again knelt down in the triangle with the bowl in front of her, and Arthur nodded to Tim, who was holding a white card in his hand. "Read the invocation, please."

"All right, here we go," Tim said, doing his best to sound calm as he began reading the invocation, while wondering how he ended up being the one to do it. "'Caroline Eastwick, you who lived yesterday, hear these words, hear our cry. We seek your guidance in recovering an ancient artifact. Cross now the great divide and show yourself here'."

The dim lights began flickering, making the group look around uneasily, and thunder crashed outside with flashes of lightning, making several of them, Dawn included, jump a little, and it was almost like they could hear ghostly footsteps walking on the pavement outside, heading for their location. And then, as the storm reached its' climax, Sarah suddenly gasped and opened her eyes.

The group gasped and stared, many with horror, for the maid's eyes were pitch black, and when she spoke, it was in a voice that wasn't her own. She was _possessed_.

' _They're_ here _,'_ Dawn thought uneasily, having only ever seen the original Poltergeistonce and had vowed _never_ to watch it again… at least not at night and not on her own.

 _`"_ _I am here_ _,"`_ Sarah said, staring straight ahead, unblinking, and Joey was among those who gasped, and he took Dawn's hand into his own since they were seated side-by-side. _`"My name is Caroline Eastwick,"`_ she continued. _'_ _"I'm speaking through the mouth of your friend."`_

"We need to ask her something," Oli stammered, but whatever it was he'd planning to ask, he was interrupted by Caroline's otherworldly voice.

 _`"_ _I was taken against my will and buried in a coffin bound with an iron chain,"`_ she explained with a shudder. _`"_ _My life was taken in order to hide the artifact from the living. To retrieve it, you must find my coffin, exhume it from the earth, and release me_ _."`_

Justine felt her insides go cold. _'Coffins,'_ she thought fearfully. _'Why,_ why _, did it have to be coffins?'_ She wasn't really claustrophobic, but for some reason, she had a dreadful fear of being locked in a room with no means of getting out, and she had a hard enough time going to funerals with the coffins as it was.

 _`"_ _You must also find the key to unlock the chain that seals it,"_ _'_ Caroline continued. _"The path that leads to the key starts at_ _…"`_ And she fell silent. It was clear that this was taking a lot out of Sarah.

"At the where?" Eva asked, hoping that Caroline would be able to give them the rest of the information that they needed, the same information that Arthur was writing down on a piece of paper. "Uh-uh. At the _where_?"

 _`"_ _At a fork beneath the weeping tree_ _."`_

"The weeping tree!" Joey exclaimed and Dawn figured it had to be a weeping willow since they were the only kind of tree that looked to be weeping.

 _`"Take the low road,"`_ Caroline continued and it was becoming apparent that she was starting to fade since sweat was starting to form on Sarah's forehead, and she was straining to let the spirit keep talking, but it was clear that the séance was going to end soon. _`"_ _I do not know where the coffin has been buried. I remember being carried past the red stone_ _. Near the back...near the back of the house…Hurry!"_ Caroline screamed, her voice an anguished plea. " _Release me from this hell!"`_ And then Sarah's head fell forward, startling the group, and when she looked back up, her eyes were back to normal.

Caroline was gone and they knew what they had to do.

* * *

A/N: So, for those who haven't watched the series, try and guess who's gonna die this time in your reviews. R&R everyone!


	5. Chapter 4: COFFIN AND KEY PART ONE

Escape the Night: Buried Alive

A/N: I am now splitting this chapter into two parts.

Read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

* * *

 **CHAPTER FOUR: COFFIN AND KEY PART ONE**

After making sure that Sarah was all right, the group received flashlights from Arthur, and they headed for the back of the house. Once they were outside, they broke up into two groups: one group was going to find the coffin while the other group was going to find the key that they would need to remove the chain from the coffin once it'd been found.

They all were surprised when Arthur and Sarah came with them to help in the search, which both Joey and Dawn found suspicious, but there wasn't anything they could do or say at the moment, so they focused on their mission.

* * *

The group that was looking for the coffin consisted of Joey, Dawn, Eva, Oli, Tim, GloZell, Benny, and Arthur. They hadn't been searching for very long when Oli spotted a red stone under a weeping willow.

"There's a red stone!" he shouted, using his flashlight to illuminate a crimson boulder. "We found a red stone!"

"Oh my goodness!" GloZell exclaimed.

They race each other to the boulder, and Joey nearly tripped over his own feet in the process. Once he arrived, he immediately noticed the note carved into a piece of wood that's been nailed onto the stone. "'Go to the tree 27 paces from here'," he read.

"Is that the tree?" GloZell wondered, using her cane to point at a large oak not too far from them. "There's so many trees!"

"This is going to take forever," Benny predicted, aiming his flashlights at the various trees.

"It's probably up here," Joey suggested, pointing uphill, mulling over the note in his mind. _'27 paces…footsteps. They're talking about footsteps. Aren't they?'_ And they started forward, counting at the same time.

"One…two…three…"

* * *

Meanwhile the other group, which consisted of Matt, Bart, Justine, Sierra, Lele, and Sarah, were searching for the right road that would take them to the key.

"I am _not_ wearing the right shoes for this!" Sierra complained loudly, stomping her way down the muddy path. Lele was right behind her, flashlight at the ready, glowering at every suspicious shadow.

Matt was walking hand-in-hand with Justine. She was shivering in the cold, holding her mink coat close to her heaving chest. "Are you the one that's working with the spirits?" he asked her quietly.

"No, I'm not," Justine insisted, her eyes were tearful, and she was clearly scared, just like the rest of them.

Matt believed her. "I think it's Lele."

"Guys?" Sierra's impatient voice interrupted their conversation. "What are you two doing back there? Hurry up!"

Matt snapped to attention. "We're try…I mean…we're just…chatting."

* * *

"Twenty-six…twenty-seven!"

"Look!" Eva shouted, pointing to a tree inches from her head. Tim was near the back of the group, stuck between Oli and GloZell, but even he could tell that this had _got_ to be the right tree.

"Oh, there's another clue!" Joey exclaimed, scrambling his way to the base of the tree. "Guys! Come on over here!" And they gathered around the base of the tree, where there was a piece of wood that had an arrow etched into it, and next to it was a note. "'Hold the string at the tip of the arrow and follow it to its end'," he read aloud, "'where you will find the missing heart of the forest beneath your feet'."

"String?" Eva repeated, her forehead furrowed.

"Must be this string," Dawn said, picking up a spool of string that was lying nearby. "Here."

Joey took the string and began unwinding it just enough that they could put the end on the arrow, and GloZell held it in place with her cane. He began moving backwards, unwinding the string while doing his best to stay in a straight line, and the others walked along while Arthur remained with GloZell.

"Where would you bury a coffin?" Oli wondered, looking around the area as they walked.

Tim decided to ask them an important question. "Ok," he said as Joey stopped to unwind more of the string before walking backwards again. "So nobody here is the rat, right?" he asked.

"No," Eva answered.

"I'm not," Joey confirmed.

"I would _never_ join the dark side for _anything_ ," Dawn said firmly. "Even if they do have cookies." And this got a few chuckles from the group.

Benny shook his head. "Nope."

Oli also shook his head. "You know, I do like hunting and everything, but I would _never_ kill anyone."

Tim nodded, believing them. "Everyone here, I trust you guys." He bit his lip. "I don't know about that other group."

' _He means he doesn't trust Justine,'_ Dawn realized, _'even though she did the best she could to save Andrea.'_

"Why?" Joey asked, although he was thinking the same thing as Dawn.

' _Because Justine killed Andrea,'_ Tim thought. _'_ _Straight-up murdered her. And I'm sure as hell not gonna let that slide.'_ "Because I still don't like the way Justine handled the challenge," he stated, "and I think she's the rat."

"Okay, I've known Justine for a long time," Joey protested. "There's nothing fishy about her. I trust her."

' _You would,'_ Tim thought sourly. _'Joey, you're great and all, but homeboy, you're too damn naive for your own good.'_

"Hurry up!" GloZell snapped and they went back to focusing on the unwinding of the string.

* * *

While that was going on, the second group was wandering around, searching for the route that would take them to the key, and it was starting to look like they'd gotten lost. As they stumbled down the murky path, Justine is the first to see another path appearing among the trees.

"There's another road down here, guys!" Justine announced, hoping that it was the right road. "Is this the low road?"

As they got closer to the road, Matt shook his head. "That's the road we came up on."

"We took the wrong road!" Sierra complained.

"Great, we're going around in circles," Bart grumbled, wishing that he was with the other group.

* * *

A/N: Talk about confusing, huh? Up next, part two of this chapter. R&R everyone!


	6. Chapter 5: COFFIN AND KEY PART TWO

Escape the Night: Buried Alive

A/N: And this is now part two of the previous chapter.

Read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

* * *

 **CHAPTER FIVE: COFFIN AND KEY PART TWO**

Meanwhile, the first group was still walking alongside Joey as he continued unwinding the string until he found himself holding the other end. "The string is over!"

Oli took a deep breath to calm his racing heart down and pointed his flashlight at the ground they were standing on while GloZell and Arthur caught up after releasing their end of the string, which Joey was now winding up again. "Guys, I think it's here," he said.

Using their flashlights, the group started searching the ground for the next clue that would – hopefully – lead them to the coffin, and so far they weren't finding anything that could look like a clue or something.

"Are we positive that this is-?" Oli began to say, now having his doubts.

"We found it!" GloZell called out, pointing at a patch of dirt with her cane.

"I told you it was there," Oli said, relieved as they gathered around and Dawn dug through the dirt until she was able to pull out what looked like the half of a green heart, along with a note.

Joey took the note and began reading it aloud. "'The heart of the forest longs for its missing half. Take the string and fold it in half. Using the druid statue as a center point, make a circle with the string. Inside the circle, you'll find the other half of the heart. Reunite the pieces and the forest will reveal the location of the coffin'."

Benny looked around and the beam of his flashlight fell onto a dark shape that wasn't too far from where they were. "Guys, I think the druid statue is over there." And they all hurried over to the statue while Joey folded the string in half. Sure enough, they found a dark colored stone statue that was sitting on a rock, and it appeared to be in deep thought.

"So we use the statue as the center point, right?" Tim asked.

Eva nodded. "Right."

Dawn took one end of the folded string and tied it around the neck of the statue, relieved when nothing bad happen, and Joey took the other end, walking away from the statue until the string ran out.

"Ok," he said, turning to face the others. "This is the distance we can go in any direction from the center, so…" He gestured at the area with his flashlight. "Let's look around in this area." He let go of the string and they began searching the area, including the trees in the area.

* * *

The other group finally found the right road and they were walking along it until something _really_ strange appeared in the distance. As they got closer, they were surprised to see that it was a brown baby grand piano.

"There's a piano down there," Matt said, eyebrows raised since he hadn't expected to find a piano of all things.

"I'm sorry, _what?_ " Justine asked, not sure if she was seeing what she thought she was seeing. It'd been a strange night, and finding a piano outside was too weird to be true.

Lele headed straight for the piano and the others reluctantly followed her.

"I don't even know if we should go near it," Matt said uneasily, but he still followed the rest of his group.

' _I'll take a piano over a coffin_ any day _,'_ Justine thought as they reached the piano and found that for some reason that all, but two of the piano keys were painted black.

"These are the only two white keys," Lele informed them as she played the two keys with nothing happening or so it seemed.

"Is there a key?" Sierra asked, and they searched around the piano without any luck.

Bart decided to check the inside of the piano and, with Lele's help, pried the cover off when Justine was suggesting that the key probably popped out, and they found a small wooden box inside. He took it out and held it up so the rest of the group could see it.

"What is that?" Sierra wondered.

"What's inside?" Matt asked, leaning in closer. "Is there a key?"

Bart opened the box, but there wasn't anything inside. "Nope," he said disappointed.

Justine, however, thought she heard something musical coming from the box and tried to take it from him. "Shhhh, listen!" she snapped and finally got her hands on the box, listening as a faint tune played. "It played a song!"

"No it didn't," Sierra scoffed.

* * *

Back in the clearing, the group was still trying to find the second half of the heart, and they weren't having very much luck. They were searching everywhere, on the ground, next to the druid statue itself, and among the trees, but they still weren't having _any_ luck at finding the hidden piece that would help them find the coffin.

"Check the trees, guys," Joey reminded the group as he and Dawn checked two trees that were growing side-by-side.

Eva was looking around a particular old-looking tree when the beam of her flashlight fell onto something green, and when she pulled it out, she saw that it was the second half of the heart. "Found it!" she shouted, holding up for all to see.

"She found it!" Joey and Dawn exclaimed together, hurrying over to Eva.

"Where?" Oli asked as he, Benny, GloZell, and Arthur hurried over to her.

"It was in the tree," Eva explained, holding up her prize.

GloZell shrieked "Yes!" and did her happy little GloZell dance. This got chuckles out of the others before Eva handed the heart half to Tim, who had the other half, and they watched as he worked on putting them together.

It took a few tries, but eventually Tim managed to lock the pieces together to complete the heart. "Oh, here we go."

Seconds after the heart was formed, a patch of ground not far from them lighted up by moonlight, and they hurried over to it. The good news was that they found the location for the coffin that Caroline was buried in, but now they had to dig it up.

"Marvin!" Joey called out to the groundskeeper, who was standing not far from their current location. "Shovels! Please!" And he hurried away to get shovels.

* * *

A/N: Time to dig for a coffin. R&R everyone!


	7. Chapter 6: KEY AND VOTE

Escape the Night: Buried Alive

A/N: Well, it's time to see what will happen when they get the key to the coffin.

Read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

* * *

 **CHAPTER SIX: KEY AND VOTE**

Meanwhile at the piano, Justine was still trying to convince the others that there was music coming out of the music box. " _Listen to me,_ " she insisted and there was a hard edge to her voice. "This music box is playing a song. We need to replicate…" She nodded toward the piano. "That."

Deciding to humor her, they listened to the box, and this time they _did_ hear the musical tune.

"You're right, Justine," said Bart. "Sorry that we didn't believe you."

Both Lele and Matt tried to replicate the tune on the piano without too much luck. "So, we gotta go high to low to high."

Lele shook her head, listening to the music, and she figured it out. "Ok, I got it," she said, and she played the proper piano keys. "Ok." She played the final cord and something thudded to the ground. "Oh! It fell!"

"The key just fell out of the piano?" Matt asked skeptically.

Sierra peered under the piano and found a wooden box. She picked it up and opened it, revealing that there was a key inside. "Guys, we found the key!" she announced, taking the key out and waving it in the air. "Okay! Let's go!" She then took off back down the road and the others gave chase.

* * *

The moment that Marvin appeared with his wheelbarrow, which was loaded with shovels, Eva, Oli, Benny, Tim, Joey, and Dawn all grabbed a shovel each, and they began digging at the ground, tossing the dirt aside. The only ones who weren't digging were GloZell, which made sense, Arthur, and Marvin, they were beaming their flashlights on the digging sight to provide light for the diggers.

They'd managed to dig a good foot into the ground when the other group arrived, having run the whole way, and Sierra was still holding the key in her hand.

"Did you guys find it?" she asked while showing them the key. "We found the key."

"We found it," Joey informed them as Lele surprised everyone by grabbing a shovel and joining in on digging out the coffin, which Dawn was certain was most likely buried six feet down per tradition.

Deciding to keep up morale and provide some much-needed entertainment, GloZell began singing, using her flashlight as a microphone. "We gotta dig, dig deeper…"

Justine, however, was keeping her distance from the hole, feeling _very_ uneasy. "I don't like this at all."

GloZell stopped singing and shot the blonde girl a hard look. "Suck it _up,_ iJustine!"

"We've seen so much death already," Sierra pointed out. _"What_ is your problem all of a sudden?"

"Justine knows what's in there!" Tim said with a cold, accusing look in his normally bright eyes.

"Yeah," GloZell agreed. "Maybe iJustine knows what's going on."

Tim nodded. "I think so."

"Leave Justine alone, guys," Benny snapped, fed up with the blame game that kept cropping up. "If she's scared about something, then that's her right."

Bart opened his mouth to retort when Matt suddenly spoke up, pointing to the chain and lock that'd just been uncovered in the hole. "The lock's right here! Who's got the key?"

Sierra held up the key. "I have the key." She then surprised everyone by jumping into the hole, where she used the key to remove the lock, and climbed back out so that the diggers could remove the chain from the coffin, which they then finished uncovering.

Eva, Joey, and Dawn quickly climbed back out of the hole while Arthur helped Benny, Oli, and Tim pull on ropes to get the coffin out of the hole. Once the coffin was on the ground, Justine hurried around so that she was standing behind Joey and Dawn, wanting to be as far from the coffin as possible, not caring that it was making certain members of the group suspicious of her.

"Are you guys ready?" Eva asked as Marvin provided a pair of crowbars, which Oli and Tim took as they climbed out of the hole in order to use them to open the coffin.

"What could it be?" GloZell wondered, watching uneasily as the two boys pried off the lid to reveal – that there was _nothing_ inside the coffin. "It's empty!"

The group gathered around, well Justine was still keeping her distance, and saw that GloZell was right: there was nothing inside the coffin except for the purple velvet interior, and a folded piece of paper.

Matt picked up the paper, unfolded it, and he began reading it. "'I can feel your presence near. My spirit will soon be free. There is only one more task ahead of you. The hiding ritual used to conceal the artifact required an unwilling soul to be buried alive…and it was mine. Now, another unwilling soul must be buried to reverse the spell. Only then will the artifact rise from its earthen tomb. I know it is a horrible thing to require, but if I had told you in the beginning, you never would have come this far.

The group must vote, but only one name will be drawn this time. That person must be taken away against their will and buried alive in this coffin. Please do not falter now'."

"Oh God," Justine moaned.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Joey demanded.

Dawn covered her face with one hand. "Not _another_ vote."

Matt sighed, realizing that they _did_ have to vote again. "We've got to kill somebody."

* * *

The group was floored. They'd spent _so much_ time searching for the coffin, plus the key to unlock it, and now they were expected to vote for one of them to be forced into the coffin and be buried alive. Hearing that they would need to bury someone live, Justine began having a _major_ panic attack, and she clung to Joey and Dawn's arms, hoping that they would protect her.

"Each of you comes up here," Arthur explained, gesturing to Sarah, who just came up with a tray that had the hat, pieces of paper, and a pen on it, "and write the name of the person that you think should go into this coffin. The more votes for a single person go in there, the better chance of me drawing the name, but it's still up to draw."

Joey swallowed and looked at the group while putting a reassuring hand over Justine's hand, and Dawn was doing the same. "I am _so_ sorry that you guys got invited and got messed up in this," he apologized, wishing that they had _never_ come to this cursed house in the first place, "but _please_ do not put Dawn or myself in this coffin."

Matt wasn't planning on putting either of them into the coffin since they hadn't known that the house was possessed by evil, but _someone_ had to go into the coffin so that they could get the artifact, and there was still the question of who among them was working with the evil. "Who do we think's been working with the spirit?" he inquired. "Because someone's been orchestrating this entire thing-"

Suddenly, Tim, GloZell, Sierra, Lele, and Bart all began pointing their fingers at Justine, insisting that _she_ was with the evil, and that _she_ needed to be buried in the coffin.

"I think iJustine!"

"Justine!"

"I think we should put Justine in the coffin!"

"Justine! I think it was Justine!"

"Justine is with the evil, and she needs to go!"

"I will not…" Justine forced the words out of her suddenly dry throat. "I won't go!"

Joey and Dawn both immediately shielded the blonde with their own bodies, and they were joined by Benny and Matt. "Look at how scared she is! She isn't with the evil! Leave her alone!"

GloZell took a step forward and pointed at Justine with her cane. "I think it's time for her to go!"

"Please, do not, whatever you do, _do not_ put me in that box!" Justine pleaded, tears staining her cheeks as she buried her face into her friends' shoulders.

"Let's move over here," Benny suggested and they moved Justine far from those who wanted to put her in the coffin.

Eva and Oli looked between the two groups, and they finally went over to join Tim and the others who were wanting to vote for Justine, convinced that she needed to go, and that _she_ had to be allied with the evil that was forcing them to play this sick game. They were more certain then ever because of how Justine was acting, and they found that _very_ suspicious.

Oli was feeling _very_ mixed about all this, and when he was asked if he wanted to go into the coffin, he made it _very_ clear that he didn't, and even he knew that someone had to be forcefully buried. He just didn't like it, and he wasn't sure that they could live with themselves after they actually did this and get the artifact.

* * *

On the other side of the hole and the coffin, Joey, Dawn, Benny, and Matt were trying to calm Justine down with promises that they weren't going to vote for her, but the poor girl was terrified since this was her worst fear, and it was looking like it was going to happen.

"Please don't vote for me," Justine pleaded, not caring that her makeup was running by this point. "I _can't_ go in that box!"

"I'm not gonna vote for you," Joey promised her repeatedly. "It's not gonna happen! You're not going in there!"

"I'm not going to vote for you either, Justine," Dawn also promised, holding the blonde's hands in hers. "You aren't going _anywhere_."

"No one in this group will vote for you, sweetie," Benny reassured her, rubbing her back with one hand.

When Justine started calming down, Matt was relieved, but that still left the question of _who_ they were going to vote for. "Who else deserves to die?"

Joey glanced over at the other group and swallowed when he turned back. "I say Tim."

"I say Tim as well," Justine agreed. "He has been out to get me this _whole_ time."

"Although I rather not vote for anyone," Dawn said, "I have to agree with you both. It should be Tim."

Benny nodded. "Yeah, I think we're in agreement. Right, Matt?" And Matt nodded. They were going to to vote for Tim.

* * *

"Let's put this to a vote," said Arthur and the two groups reunited as one, but it was clear that there was a devision among them since Joey and Dawn were keeping Justine away from Tim. "GloZell, please go first."

Sighing, GloZell went over to the tray, wrote a name on a piece of paper and placed it into the hat. One by one, they each took their turn in voting, and soon it was time for Joey to vote. He didn't want to do this, but he had to, and so he wrote a name down, dropping the paper into the hat. Dawn went next, hating herself as she wrote a name down, placing it in the hat, and then Justine went to take her turn, too.

Once everyone in the group had voted, Arthur took the hat and he began shaking it as he said "And now, we're going to decide who's going in the coffin to be buried alive", and they watched, wondering who among them would end up being buried alive.

* * *

A/N: The voting never gets easier, does it? R&R everyone!


	8. Chapter 8: ANOTHER LIFE LOST

Escape the Night: Buried Alive

A/N: Time to see who gets buried alive, and how it'll impact the group.

Read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

* * *

 **CHAPTER SEVEN: ANOTHER LIFE LOST**

After shaking the hat for about a minute, Arthur reached in and took out a piece of folded paper. Opening it, he read the name to himself, and then he looked at the group with a solemn expression. "Justine."

A ripple of shock shot through the group and Justine's expression went white with fear.

" _No,_ you guys, how could you guys _do this_ to me?!" the blonde screamed and ran for it. Both Dawn and Joey ran after her, determined to protect her while those who'd voted for her insisted that they needed her to go into the coffin, and they almost caught up with her when Marvin suddenly came out of the trees and grabbed Justine around her waist, pinning her arms. "No! Let go of me! _No!_ Joey! Dawn! _Help!_ "

"Marvin, let her go!" Joey ordered and when the groundskeeper ignored him and began carrying the struggling and screaming girl back toward the coffin, he and Dawn tried to go after him, but they found themselves being restrained by Bart and GloZell. "Let go! Stop this!"

Tim and Lele both moved forward and they each took one of Justine's kicking legs, and they helped carry her over to the coffin.

"Please – guys-" Justine pleaded, hyperventilating as she tried to look at Joey and Dawn, who were struggling in the grips of Bart of GloZell, clearly trying to break free. "You don't understand – no, you – you can't do this to me-"

"Don't put her in the box!" Dawn pleaded. "Bart, let go of me! No! Don't do this!"

"No!" Joey shouted, surprised that the Jazz Singer could restrain him like this. " _This is sick!_ "

Justine was still screaming and pleading as she was lowered into the coffin, and she was screaming for Joey and Dawn as the lid was shoved down despite her best efforts to stop it with her hands, and they sealed it shut, muffling her screams.

Tim, Oli, Arthur, and Marvin shoved the coffin into the hole, and they grabbed the shovels to start burying it. Lele also grabbed a shovel, and she helped shovel dirt onto the coffin, doing her best to ignore the continued muffle screams coming from within.

By this point, Bart and GloZell released Joey and Dawn, who ran to the hole and stopped short of it, having realized that they couldn't do anything for Justine, and they could only watch helplessly as more dirt was placed on top of the coffin.

Tim paused in his shoveling to look at them, and he regretted it almost instantly when he saw their expressions of horror and lost on their faces. _'It had to be done,'_ he thought, pulling himself together. _'She killed Andrea, and she's paying the price.'_ "Joey, Dawn," he said, getting their attention, "you're not gonna help us out?"

"No!" Joey and Dawn both protested, their eyes flashing with angry and betrayal. "We're not going to help!"

"Do either of you want all of us to _die_?" Tim demanded.

Joey glared at him and pointed at the partly buried coffin. "This is sickening!"

"Joey, Dawn, can you both _please_ shovel in at least one pile of dirt?" Tim requested.

Scowling at him, Joey and Dawn both kicked a little bit of dirt into the hole. "There. Happy?"

"Wait," said Lele, holding up a hand and they all looked at her. "Guys, do you hear that?" she asked and they all listened for several seconds until they realized that there was nothing coming out of the coffin. "I think she's stopped."

Realizing that Justine was dead, both Joey and Dawn sank to their knees, staring at the coffin as it was being covered with dirt. Despite their promises, despite their best efforts, the happy blonde was dead, and her blood was on their hands.

* * *

After the last few shovelful of dirt were put on top of the coffin, there was a rumbling sound nearby, and they looked around until they saw an eruption of dirt a few feet away. They all hurried over, even Dawn and Joey, and those with shovels began digging at the ground, tossing aside dirt until they uncovered a black box, which shimmered like a ghost in the moonlight.

Joey and Dawn knelt down and they lifted the box out of the ground, revealing that it had the marking of the Society etched onto its triangular lid. _'This what Justine died for.'_

"It's got the marking on it," Matt pointed out.

"Joey, Dawn," Oli said and they looked up at him, "can either of you open it?"

Exchanging a look, they both sighed and brushed dirt off the latch before opening the box. Inside was the artifact, and Joey carefully lifted it out, almost dropping it when it light up in a demonic red haze, and started pulsing with a cold, terrifying magic.

"See?" Tim asked, putting his hands on their shoulders. "It was all worth it, Joey, Donny."

" _Don't_ call me Donny!" Dawn snapped, shoving his hand off her shoulder, glaring up at him. "You've lost that _right_ , Timothy." And she looked away, her eyes burning with unshed tears. She didn't want to do this anymore, she wanted to go home.

"What is that?" Lele asked, pointing at the box, which had something else in it.

Joey reached into the box again and removed the object, which turned out to be a wooden box. Eva took it, and she tried to open it. But there didn't appear to be a way to open the box, which looked solid, but when she shook it, she could hear something rattling inside.

"It doesn't open?" GloZell asked, frowning.

"Alright, I'm done," Joey said coldly, getting to his feet and he helped Dawn up, putting a supportive arm around her shoulders. "Let's go." And they started back toward the house.

The others exchanged looks and they followed after them. Oli did pause long enough to look back at the dirt mound that was covering the coffin.

' _I'm_ so _sorry, Justine,'_ he thought as he turned away. _'I'm_ so _sorry.'_

* * *

Returning to the living room, Joey carried the artifact over to the mantle, where he set it next to the first one, and turned back to look at the rest of the group, taking Dawn's hand into his, hoping that by doing so, he could keep both her and himself from having a complete emotional meltdown.

"Joey, Dawn," Oli said softly, and when they both looked at him, he could see in their eyes that their hearts were breaking, and that made his own heart break into a million pieces too. "Look, I'm sorry, guys, but…one of us had to go."

They both nodded, but they weren't looking anything like their old selves, and they were losing trust in the group.

"What do we do now?" Joey asked, looking and feeling like a lost little boy instead of a grownup.

Eva held out the wooden box. "We gonna do this."

They all looked at the box, wondering what was inside it, and how many of them were going to die before it was all over?

To be continued…

* * *

A/N: RIP Justine. R&R everyone!


End file.
